Delusion
by anotherOUATwriter
Summary: After Emma Swan went to Storybrooke and broke the curse, she didn't live happily ever after that she had expected, but at least she had a family. Or did she? / My theory about the show's finale. No ships.


So, this idea has haunted me for some weeks now, and I can't seem to get rid of it so I'll share it with you... This is how I think the TV show will end. I'm writing it as a one-shot, but who knows if I'll continue... ?

On a fast note, I don't really imagine this particular villain on the season finale, but I needed a bad guy and he was pretty cool so I decided to use him. I know he's not from a fairy tale, but hey! neither are the characters the Wizard of Oz!

Let me know your opinions, you can share your crazy theories if you have them! :)

* * *

Emma Swan would not give up on this task, there was too much at stake, too many people she cared about, to do so. She looked around her but she couldn't see anything: the fog was blocking her sight. '_Trust your gut, Swan,_' she told herself, '_You've got this,_'. The blonde tightened her grip around the sword she was holding - David's sword, her _father's_ sword - and walked deeper into the unknown. She might never see her father again, she might never see any one again. This was a suicide mission, but she needed to try; because that's what heroes do.

And there she saw him, a silhouette darker than the rest of the fog surrounding him. He was walking towards her. Emma didn't know anything about this man, this villain. He had terrorized them for nearly a month, killed everyone who stepped out of their houses, feeding from their guts. There was no day and night, just darkness. As if a black cloak had fallen upon Storybrooke. She had to kill him, she had to end the town's misery, after all, she was the savior.

Emma waited patiently, with her sword raised and ready to attack. And when she felt that the man was at a reachable distance, she ran towards him and stuck her weapon deep into his abdomen. He didn't scream, he just laughed, and his laughter made Emma's soul tremble in horror, but she didn't back off, she just pressed the sword farther into the man's abdomen.

The air became clearer around her, she could finally see who was she up against. The villain was a tall and slender man, his skin was pale as porcelain and his black hair was combed in an elegant manner.

"You foolish girl, you think you can kill me?" he laughed again, this time Emma could see his teeth. Not teeth, fangs. "You can't kill someone that's already dead," the man pushed Emma away and took the sword out of his abdomen, he had not been hurt at all. "Such shame to kill a pretty face like yours," the pale man caressed Emma's cheek, his skin was ice-cold. "In another life, I'd have made you my wife," he grabbed Emma by the neck and started strangling her "Your parents should have warned you about fighting someone you can't kill,"

His cold fingers hurt her more than anything she had felt on her life, as if they were little daggers cutting her skin. Emma grasped for air, but it was too hard, her lungs were starting to collapse. She couldn't think about anything else but dying. Then, by some kind of miracle, man pressed her against the wall, crushing her with his weight. It was then when Emma felt something in her back pocket: the wooden stake that Regina had given her when they said goodbye. The blonde remembered Regina's last words, they had been '_He might not be alive, but you can still kill him,_'.

The white and cold skin, the fangs. It all became pretty obvious right now. Regina suspected it all this time, the pale man was Dracula. That's why the former Evil Queen had insisted on Emma taking the stake, as stupid as the weapon looked. Without giving it a second thought, she took out the stake that Regina had given her and stabbed the man in the chest, just like in the movies she had seen. He let her go and tried to back off, but now it was Emma who hold onto him. He was in pain, she could see it in his dead eyes, but she didn't care. This man had killed so many people from Storybrooke, _fed_ from their organs: he deserved to suffer and die.

"And your parents should have warned you about fighting someone who grew up reading comics about Van Helsing," Emma spat. Dracula laid lifeless in her arms, she let go of him and the body dropped on the street. She knew what they had to do next, but him in a coffin and sink it to the bottom of the ocean.

The fog around her started clearing up and the sun started rising. Sunlight! After thirty days of darkness, she could feel the warm rays energizing her muscles. Emma sat on the sideway, staring Dracula's body and catching her breath. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the peace, the tranquility that the dead man next to her had stolen from Storybrooke.

She only opened her eyes when she heard her name being yelled from afar, the people of Storybrooke were going out from their hiding places, walking towards her. All of them were alive, she had saved them all. "Emma, you did it!" Charming stop next to her and help his daughter up. "You saved us, I knew you'd do it!"

He and Mary Margaret hugged their daughter tightly. Emma knew she would never have a normal life again, but moments like these made the battles and the craziness worth it. She had a family now, she had friends, people who cared about her and a place to call home.

"Praise the savior!" the people screamed around them, and their cheers cracks a smile on Emma's face "Long live, the Savior; Long live, Emma!"

"Emma!" the people's voice started getting weaker, as if she was being dragged away from them. She fought against it, trying to hold onto the people that was cheering; but their face were getting distant, and voices were replaced by another voice, a voice that she knew quite well. "Emma!" The voice of Suzanne, a children service worker, woke her up.

The woman shook Emma gently and brought her back to reality, back to the real world. The world where she was a child with no family, no friends, no home. The world that had taught her nothing but deception and sadness. She hated this world, more than everything else. Why couldn't she live in her fictional world?

"Why did you wake me up?" the little girl pushed the woman, "I was happy, I had a family!" she started crying.

"Emma, it was just a dream," Suzanne tried to caress Emma's cheek, but the blonde snapped the woman's hand away.

"It was not a _just_ dream!" she protested, tears running down her face, "I'm Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter! I'm the savior!"

"No, Emma," the woman stood up, "You are an orphan, you parents dropped you in Maine and never came back, remember?" she said with a sad tone, they had gone over this conversation more times than she could even count. It broke Suzanne's heart to tell those words to the little kid, and it didn't get better; but Emma needed a dose of reality, those had been the doctor's word.

"Then why did they leave a Fairy Tale book with me?" Emma asked pointing at the book resting on her bed-table, "They wanted me to find them and break the curse,"

"No, Emma," Suzanne replied. She didn't know the exact answer to Emma's question, but she couldn't let the girl have hope, it would just hurt her later. She had tried to get ride of Emma's '_Once Upon a Time_' book but the girl had stopped eating until she got her book back. "We went over this already. Now, clean your face and get dress, a man is coming to see you,"

Suzanne walked out of Emma's room, but before she closed the door she heard Emma screaming "I hate you!" with so much anger that it broke the woman's heart. Emma was street smart, and probably one of the bravest girl she had met, it hurt Suzanne not to be able to help her. She wanted Emma to be part of a happy and normal family, but the girl's attitude didn't make it easy. Maybe Emma will warm up to the man who requested to meet with her, maybe she'll accept to go home with him.

Emma hated orphanages, she even hated them more than she hated foster houses. But she didn't have any choice, she was already fourteen years old and the cute-phase that helped her get picked by foster parents had passed long time ago. The blonde would rather live on the streets, but every time she got caught by the police she got sent back to the orphanage. She landed with Suzanne almost six months ago, Suzanne was not as bad as the other orphanage directors she had met, but she was not the caring mother that Emma wanted either.

Dragging her feet she walked towards Suzanne's office. She already knew how this went, she was going to get called, then the couple or single parent would give her a look, decide that Emma looked too skinny, too old or too dumb to be adopted and ask to see another blonde girl. The girl stopped next to the office's door, she needed to get some air.

Then, Suzanne talking "Emma has gone through a tough time," the orphanage director explained "She says that she's the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and that she's the only hope they have,"

"Interesting," the man's voice gave Emma goosebumps. She had heard that voice before.

"We had her checked with a group of psychiatrists, they concluded that this fantasy is to cope with the fact that she's alone."

Before the man could reply, Emma knocked the door and entered the office without waiting to be called in, she wanted to get over with this interview as fast as she could. Suzanne raised her head at the sudden interruption; and her guest, the man who wanted to adopt Emma, stood up and turned on his heels to meet face to face with the young girl.

She felt the blood in her veins freezing as soon as she recognised his face. What was he doing here? How could have he escaped Storybrooke? How did he find her?

"Hello, Emma," he said with an almost eerie smile, "I'm Mr. Gold,"

Emma knew she shouldn't trust this man, she knew what he was capable of doing. But she _knew_ him, and apparently he knew her. He was the proof that all the things she had believed for so many years were right. So, she ran to him, and hugged him tightly. "Please," she pleaded with tears in her eyes "Just take me home,"


End file.
